Belichick: Patriots-Texans Joint Practices Not A Big Deal Compared To Others
BOSTON (CBS) — The Patriots are traveling to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia this week to conduct joint practices with the Texans at The GreenBrier on Tuesday and Wednesday. A couple of reporters asked Bill Belichick if it's possible to have such a practice without giving anything valuable away to the opposition.
But Belichick insists that the joint practices are nothing more than a chance for both teams to get ready for the season.
"You know, Bill [O'Brien] and I have talked about it," Belichick said. "I mean, honestly, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I mean, I think this is another event that's hyped up by a lot more of the people who are watching it than the people who are involved with it. That's not really what this practice is about. It's not what the middle of August is about.
"It's about building your team's conditioning, building your team's fundamentals, building your team's awareness, having them learn to play together with each other against good competition."
The Patriots and Texans already know each other well. They have squared off three times in the last two seasons, including the Patriots' 34-16 win in this past January's AFC Divisional Playoff. Additionally, the Texans coaching staff is filled with former Patriots coaches and players like head coach Bill O'Brien, assistant head coach Romeo Crennel, defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel, special teams coordinator Larry Izzo, and offensive/special teams assistant Wes Welker.
Belichick acknowledged that it would probably be tough for the Patriots to fool the Texans, anyway.
"Half their coaching staff coached here," Belichick said. "It's not a big secret how we run a certain play or how we coach a certain defense, and I'm sure they're coaching it the same way when we played against them. We're not going to show them our triple reverse and they're not going to show their triple safety blitz and a bunch of other garbage. That's not what this is about."
The Patriots will fly to Houston later this week to face the Texans in their second preseason contest on Saturday.